The Making of Martha Mayfield

Jo Dabrowski's second middle grade novel, The Making of Martha Mayfield, has done the rounds of my book group and been universally loved. Coming from a group of children's authors and librarians, this is praise worth having! I've now joined the chorus of acclaim for this lovely, funny, sweet story. As fellwo author Kirsty Murray remarked, it's not easy to write this kind of everyday, realist book for kids and make it thoroughly engaging as well as compassionate and thoughtful.

Martha is shy and introverted; she is also creative and observant. She makes paper models of people and 'sets' in shoe boxes (my daughter used to make rooms in shoe boxes, too) and practices awkward situations in her bedroom; but when it comes to real life,  the conversations rarely go as planned. Elections for school captain are coming up and Martha has a perverse desire to show everyone that school captains don't always have to be the same kind of outgoing, confident people who usually win these contests. There are setbacks and inspirations, and Martha's family are facing their own challenges.

This is a beautiful, layered book about identity and courage and creativity -- not just making things, but also thinking in original ways. I really hope The Making of Martha Mayfield gets the recognition it deserves in the CBCA awards next year.